SUMMARY: With so many folks today wanting less noise out of their heatsinks, it is becoming a growing trend for manufacturers to try to accomodate. Some succeed, and others fail. Come join Mike "Darthtanion" Wright as he takes a look at a newcomer in the performance cooling game. The Coolink H2T comes with two fans, but produces less noise than most others that are available. Come see if it can cool as well as remain silent.
As most of you know already, I recently went from the old Thunderbird to a newer Athlon XP processor. I have been running it at stock speeds during heatsink testing so that I can maintain a stable baseline for the coolers that come to TweakTown. So let’s take a peek at the test system:
The Athlon XP processors have lower operating temperatures than the older Thunderbirds, so I have begun a new database of results. With all of the new coolers coming out, it won’t take long to build up a large list again. Testing will consist of my usual battery of programs so that we can maintain some consistency in the results. This will include temperatures being taken at idle, after a grueling Quake III Arena Deathmatch, and after a continuous looping of the 3DMark2001 Demo.
Voltages are set at 1.75v for the processor core, 2.6 for the DDR memory, and the ambient room temperature throughout testing was a stable 21.6C (about 71F). These conditions were constant with no fluctuating temperatures or voltages.
During our tests, make sure to keep an eye on results comparing this cooler with the GlobalWin TAK68 model. They are similar in design, and both feature the thin fans in a side-mounted manner.
Results - Idle
I tend to get higher temperatures from the thin-finned coolers, but our goal is to determine whether you can get acceptable cooling with less noise. Though the H2T was soundly beaten by the monster fan models, it did manage to beat out the GlobalWin TAK68 by a small margin.
Results - Quake III Arena Deathmatch
Not too shabby here. The H2T again managed to beat out the GlobalWin unit by a bit and also managed to stay within only a degree and a half of the Dr Thermal model. To refresh your memory, the Dr Thermal cooler uses a 60mm 40-CFM YS Tech fan.
Results - 3DMark2001 Demo Loop
This time we had a tie with the GlobalWin heatsink, and we again managed to stay within 1.5C of the Dr Thermal unit. Things are looking pretty good for this little gem. With performance numbers like these, there are probably a few heatsink manufacturers out there who should be getting a little nervous.
